1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for coordinating real-time actions of team members even in the absence of reliable two-way communication, and, more specifically to a method utilizing a technique for predicting eventualities that are unpredictable to non-team members.
2. Description of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,639 for a satellite communications system with frequency channelized beams which provides for a satellite based communications system with ground stations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,245 for a method and apparatus for aiming artillery with GPS Navstar for use of satellites to coordinate the aiming of mulitple dispersed ground artillery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,425 for a locator device is used to located the position of a receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,487 for a satellite direct radio broadcast system for direct audio broadcasting to receivers on the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,668 for a satellite broadcast communications system is used for satellite broadcasting of information about future broadcasts and their content so that ground stations may determine whether they want to receive desired information and when to tune in for reception of such information.
3. Description of Related Art
There are many contexts in which team members want to coordinate their actions in real time and in which communications between members of the team may become unreliable.
Characteristics of relevant contexts may include the following:                The team members may be manned or unmanned, or a combination of the two;        The team members may be fixed or mobile, or a combination of the two;        The team members may be air, ground, water, or space-based, or a combination;        The team members may be people, robots, sensors, weapons, command posts, personnel vehicles, or material warehouses or transport vehicles, or a combination;        They are engaged in a dynamic, cooperative mission;        The mission requires highly coordinated action by team members;        The mission is subject to changes of circumstances that are likely to require continual re-planning and re-coordination; and        At any given point in time, the remote team members may not be able to communicate directly with each other or up to their headquarters.        
Possible reasons for lack of two-way communications include:
They are on opposite sides of a hill or other obstruction;
They are concerned that any transmission might be detected by competitive forces and give away their positions or intentions;
They are concerned that any transmissions may be intercepted and read by competitive forces and used against their own interests;
Their communications channels may be jammed by competitive forces;
They lack sufficient transmission power to reach their command headquarters, or each other;
They cannot access a satellite uplink due to lack of individual uplink bandwidth resources; or
Two-way communications systems are not available due to storms, earthquake, floods, or other disasters.
One example of a scenario embodying characteristics listed above is a military operation.
Different team members need to perform different acts that need to be coordinated in order to accomplish a mission objective. At a particular time, a team member may need to be in radio silence and have to forego the opportunity to provide communication to a team member indicative of position or some other parameter. Another example is a rescue effort or emergency utility repair. A team member may find that communication is not possible because he has gone outside of a particular telephone cell or is within the cell, but the antenna tower has gone down.
The problem has not been solved satisfactorily previously. Currently, missions involving multiple teams have to be planned in extreme detail, with a n umber of contingency plans in case the original plan encounters expected obstacles. This requires a long lead time which needs a great expenditure of manpower. During mission execution, there is a requirement for continual communications between remote entities, and communications from the remote entities to headquarters to report status and, when required, invoke and coordinate contingency plans.
Prior art methods for executing a coordinated action are generally “brittle,” i.e. the objective is achieved if all goes accordance to plan. The planning process is limited to information known prior to the mission. Contingency plans prepared in advance are limited to account for expected eventualities. However, these plans are either useless or worse than useless when unexpected eventualities occur.
There is currently no practical way to coordinate the real-time actions of team members if they lack reliable two-way communications.